by: Amanda Gabbert

From the 2012 SMX (Search Marketing Expo)

Best practices for landing page click through.

Many presentations pose significant questions when it comes to websites and their efficiency. Carlos Del Rio, Scott Brinker and Jason Nazar spoke on how to perfect your landing page in their presentation titled “Optimizing Your PPC Landing Page”. The landing page of your website is the first thing visitors see and will determine whether or not they

will continue from that point on. According to Carlos, all good landing pages include headlines, demonstrations, value, support and an action. Social sharing buttons should not be on your page unless visitors have converted.

The creation of the perfect landing page begins with brainstorming. Wiping out content from your website immediately is not necessary since it may come in handy later in the process. Use brainstorming to generate ideas on headlines. Which headlines work in ads you post? Existing headlines that increase traffic should stay the same. There’s no need to change things that already work.

Rather than thinking of your landing page as just a landing page, envision an experience. 95% of people bounce from the landing page and using marketing will create interest and a relationship with the visitor. Landing pages do not need to be seen as one page. Think of a microsite which allows visitors to click through and gain more information about the product or service. A call to action should be available on every page to increase the chance of conversions.

In summary of the presentation, Jason left us with the 6 golden rules of landing page conversion.

Your landing page should have one objective. Any more than one will set you up for failure. Eliminating unnecessary links will prevent this and lead the visitor of your website to carry out the desired action.

The headline is the most important item on the page. Make sure the headlines from your PPC ads match the headline on your landing page to drive user interaction.

Encourage the selling of benefits and not features. People buy on emotion and logic, so use this knowledge to engage them.

A specific call to action is needed on the landing page. The call to action clarifies what you expect your potential customer to do.

Provide customers with social proof. Reassure visitors of your success by posting current clients, testimonials and what people may recognize you from.

No one wants to dive into risky business, so eliminate the possibility of risk from your prospective customers’ lives and create more success for yourself.